1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pull-out guide for a drawer or the like and more particularly to a new and improved pull-out guide for supporting a moveable structure such as a drawer in a furniture article for use with a guide rail, the pull-out guide including a pull-out rail movably supportable by the guide rail in a generally horizontally disposed position of the pull-out rail, and the pull-out rail having support members instead of a conventional ledge for receiving and supporting the drawer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of pull-out guides for drawers have been used with in furniture such as cabinets, desks and the like for supporting drawers and similar moveable structures for many years. One such type of pull-out guide disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,248, is movably supportable by a guide rail which is mountable to the furniture article, and both the guide rail and pull-out guide carrying the moveable structure are provided with rollers. The pull-out guide may carry a structure such as a drawer, a bin, a board or the like, and the respective rollers enable the pull-out guide and carried structure to be moved freely between a forward, open position and a rearward, closed position.
Such pull-out guides include a pull-out rail having a web portion with an upper edge and a lower edge, and the lower edge is provided with a ledge extending perpendicular to the web portion to receive the drawer or similar moveable structure. The ledge serves to properly position the pull-out guide along the bottom edge of the drawer and to support the drawer, and the ledge is also provided with holes for receiving fasteners such as screws, rivets, nails, tacks and the like to fasten the pullout guide to a bottom surface of the drawer.
Typically, such pull-out guides are made by first stamping out a blank of a predetermined size and shape from a continuous web of sheet metal such as steel, then using a stamp or die or the like to bend a lateral edge of the blank to define a drawer supporting ledge along the lower edge of the web portion of the pull-out rail, and mounting a pull-out rail roller on the web portion of the pull-out rail. The cost of the steel used for each pull-out rail is a substantial element of the cost of manufacture, and it is readily apparent that eliminating the supporting ledge would substantially reduce the cost of making each pull-out guide. In practice, it has been determined that the manufacturing cost savings associated with elimination of the supporting ledge would be on the order of at least about twenty-five percent (25%).
It is possible to eliminate the ledge and provide holes in the web portion of the pull-out rail for receiving fasteners such as screws to fasten the pull-out guide to a side surface of the drawer instead of to a bottom surface of the drawer. However, such an arrangement does not afford a way of properly positioning the pull-out guide along the bottom edge of the drawer. Moreover, in such an arrangement, the heads of the fasteners protrude above the surface of the web portion of the pull-out rail and may interfere with movement of the pull-out guide relative to the guide rail because there is typically little, if any, clearance between the guide rail roller and the pull-out rail web portion.
There is a current need to provide a pull-out guide without a drawer supporting ledge, with associated reduction in manufacturing cost, while at the same time retaining the features for properly positioning the pull-out guide along a bottom edge of the drawer and fastening the pull-out guide to a bottom surface of the drawer.
The present invention addresses this need and provides a ledgeless pull-out guide which is designed to enable proper positioning of the pull-out guide along a bottom edge of the drawer and fastening the pull-out guide to a bottom surface of the drawer.